Undead (novel)
| series = The Haunted Lands | preceded_by = Unclean | followed_by = Unholy | source = }} Undead is the second novel of The Haunted Lands trilogy by Richard Lee Byers. Summary ;Prologue: In the region of Thaymount, on Hammer 11 1385 DR, the lich Szass Tam, zulkir of necromancy and the self-proclaimed regent of Thay, met with his prisoner, Yaphyll, the zulkir of divination, to discuss the War of the Zulkirs, the chaotic conflict between Szass Tam and the Council of Zulkirs that began a decade earlier. Over the course of the ten years of fighting, Thay's civil war had developed into a stalemate as neither side could gain an advantage. By 1385 DR, Szass Tam controlled the northern tharchs of the nation, Gauros, Lapendrar, Surthay, Delhumide, and Thaymount, while the council controlled the southern regions of Priador, Eltabbar, Tyraturos, Thazalhar, Pyarados, and the island of Alaor. Throughout the conflict, some of the country's tharchions and nobles, such as Yaphyll, had switched allegiances a number of times. The powerful diviner had forsaken the other zulkirs and joined Szass Tam in the hope of shifting the balance of power, breaking the stalemate, and ending the war before it entirely destroyed Thay. This didn't occur however, the stalemate had endured and Yaphyll eventually decided to switch sides once again, as she preferred to support the living rather than the undead. Before Yaphyll could rejoin her council peers, Szass Tam had taken her prisoner and magically bound her using the Death Moon Orb and Thakorsil's Seat, two powerful artifacts of imprisonment and domination. ;Chapter 1: On Ches 26, Hezass magically traveled to Eltabbar, the capital city of Thay, and met with the Council of Zulkirs, several of the Thay's tharchions including Nymia Focar, military officers, as well as Iphegor Nath, the High Flamelord of the church of Kossuth. Hezass revealed to the assembly his intentions to switch sides in the war, along with the revelation that Szass Tam was going to soon besiege the Keep of Sorrows. Seeing this as an opportunity to decisively defeat the lich, the zulkirs decided to gather the armies of their tharchs and strike at the necromancer's legions as they arrived at the fortress. ;Chapter 2: During the middle of the moth of Tarsakh, as the southern legions prepared for the upcoming battle against Szass Tam, Aoth confided in Bareris his thoughts of abandoning the war and leaving Thay with any of his fellow griffon riders who felt the same. However, Bareris, was determined to gain vengeance on Szass Tam and his necromancers for Tammith's transformation. He knew how important Aoth and his aerial company were to the Council of Zulkirs' cause, and persuaded his friend to stay in Thay and keep fighting, with the aid of his bardic magic. The legions of Eltabbar, Pyarados, and Tyraturos used powerful magic to conceal their advance, and when they assembled at the Keep of Sorrows, they believed that they had successfully surprised Szass Tam's host and had trapped the northerners between themselves and the fortress. The council's forces immediately attacked the undead wizard’s army and drove them toward the castle, where the defenders assailed them from the walls. In the Keep of Sorrows, So-Kehur cast a necromantic spell that transformed the dead bodies in the fortress' crypts into undead soldiers while Muthoth summoned a caller in darkness. As the undead creatures attacked and slaughtered the castle’s garrison, the two necromancers continually reanimated the fallen defenders in order to strengthen their force. Knowing that his army's victory was inevitable, Szass Tam projected his form into the center of the fray and tried to use the Death Moon Orb to coerce Dmitra, his former ally, into re-joining his cause, offering eternal life as a lich. At that moment however, the Spellplague fell upon Toril and the dark artifact exploded in lich's hands. A wave of azure fire swept across a portion of the battlefield, killing Hezass Nymar, his entire army as well as many of the griffons and their riders. Aoth and Brightwing were struck, and the war mage was essentially rendered blind, with a blue flame that flickering in his eyes. ;Chapter 3: The following day, Szass Tam met with his allies Azhir Kren and Homen Odesseiron, deciding to defend the Keep of Sorrows while the majority of his forces withdrew to northern Thay to rebuild their strength while a new plan was formulated. Following the battle, Tammith realized that the Spellplague had eliminated the enchantments that compelled her obedience to Szass Tam and decided to desert the lich's army on Greengrass 1385 DR. As Tammith left the Keep of Sorrows she was attacked by the blood fiend Tsagoth, but managed to wound the undead fiend and fled. ;Chapter 4: On Mirtul 10, a small group of Thayan soldiers tried to separate Brightwing from the blinded Aoth, while he recovered in Zolum. Using his bardic magic, Bareris convinced the soldiers that the tharchioness' orders had changed. Following a brief conversation between the former friends, Bareris noticed that the specter Mirror, who had been a stalwart companion over the last decade, had abandoned him after his falling out with Aoth. As the combined hosts of Eltabbar, Tyraturos, and Pyarados marched north during the month of Mirtul, Bareris, Tammith, and several griffon riders scouted ahead to watch for enemies and hazards created by the Spellplague. When the group reached the town of Solzepar, they discovered that blue fire had swept through the settlement and caused parts of the ground to float in the air. Bareris and his companions landed on one of the larger floating islands and searched a building that had been a chapterhouse of Red Wizards' evokers. After they rescued a young Mulan apprentice hidden within a large chest, the group was attacked by a band of the Red Wizards who had been transformed and possessed by evocation spells during the Spellplague. They quickly fought their way out of the building and fled the floating island. In late Mirtul, shortly after Aoth and Brightwing arrived at the Central Citadel in the port city of Bezantur, another group of Thayan soldiers attempted to apprehend Aoth Fezim and poisoned his loyal mount Brightwing. Dmitra Flass and the Council of Zulkirs had decided to vivisect the war mage in an attempt to discover more about the azure fire. After Aoth's altered vision revealed illusory knives in the hands of the orcs legionnaires sent to seize him, he managed to incapacitate them despite his blindness. ;Chapter 5: After the Council of Zulkirs' armies that advanced north from Zolum divided to undertake their different tasks, Bareris, Tammith, riders from the Griffon Legion, along with a contingent of wizards and Kossuthan priests traveled to Xingax's hidden manufactory in late-Mirtul. On Kythorn 2, the concealed band deceived their way into the fortress, and then immediately engaged the stronghold's small garrison of Red Wizard necromancers, gnoll, orc and goblinoid marauders, Thayan legionnaires and undead entities, including an enormous lizard-like monstrosity and a risen, cloud giant sorcerer. While the company defeated Xingax's minions and gained control of the fortress, Murder was killed by the monstrous lizard. During the battle, the Bareris and Tammith confronted and killed the atropal, albeit at a grave cost. The severed head of the re-animated cloud giant managed to decapitate Tammith once more, as it bit down upon her form. Once the griffon riders and their comrades destroyed the undead manufactory, they successfully withdrew from Thaymount. Many of the other southern forces also achieved victory over Szass Tam’s legions throughout the month of Kythorn; Thessaloni Canos, the tharchioness of Alaor, led her legions in a campaign that secured both Escalant and Laothkund for the council. ;Chapter 7: While Bareris and his band were returning to southern Thay sometime between Kythorn and Flamerule, they encountered an enormous, tentacled abomination created by the Spellplague that was attacking a contingent of soldiers of Tyraturos. Bareris, Tammith, and their comrades immediately assailed the formidable creature and destroyed it. the warmage planned to try to find evidence that would either confirm or deny his suspicions. Meanwhile, Szass Tam summoned an audience with the god Bane, in an intricate arcane ritual that required him to sacrifice slaves, necromancers, and even the tharchion of Thaymount, Pyras Autorian. Szass Tam Struck a bargain with Lord of Tyrants. Bane agreed to provide the lich with his knowledge about the nature of magic in the aftermath of the Spellplague, grant him the ability to create more undead creatures and enhance his mystical strength. In exchange, Szass Tam promised that the worship of Bane would be the national religion upon his ascension, and that he would also surrender his soul to the evil deity after one thousand years on Toril. Aoth and Brightwing intercepted a secret message that proved Malark's treachery, which they subsequently provided to Nevron, the zulkir of the conjuration. The powerful conjurer ordered them to arrest the monk. Aoth, Bareris, Mirror and Tammith confronted Malark and tried to apprehend him on Eleasis 14. The spymaster used a magical stone given to him by Szass Tam to summon several allips, the vengeful spirits of suicides. Malark fled while Aoth and the others defeated the undead entities, and although Tammith managed to catch up with the monk, she was incapacitated Malark and escaped from the Central Citadel and Bezantur. Choosing to follow Bane's directive, the zulkirs hastily assembled their legions and advanced north to the plain at the bottom of the road that led down from Thralgard Keep. The southern host prepared to battle not only the warriors of High Thay, but also a contingent of troops whom Szass Tam had brought north from the Keep of Sorrows. ;Chapter 10: Shortly after the end of the battle, on Eleint 16, the Council of Zulkirs met in Bezantur to discuss their disastrous defeat and their inability to overcome the dream vestige. Since they had lost the greater part of their military strength and Szass Tam now led a massive army of undead, the Red Wizard leaders realized that they could not defeat the lich. The zulkirs decided that unless they discovered a way to change the situation, they would use their fleet of warships to flee into exile and abandon the main part of Thay. Nevron then ordered one of his demonic minions to kill Zola Sethrakt, the weak representative of the small number of necromancers who supported the council, out of pure anger and hatred. Meanwhile, the defeated southern army broke into numerous bands and fled south toward Bezantur while being pursued by Szass Tam’s forces. One of the fleeing contingents was led by Aoth, and when they reached the small city of Mophur, they were denied access by the inhabitants. Aoth’s company learned that the citizens of Mophur were following the commands of the clerics and worshipers of Bane, who had been instructed by their god to no longer support the Council, rally the people against the mage-lords, pledge their allegiance to Szass Tam, and help the lich gain control of the southern provinces. Aoth, Brightwing, Bareris, Mirror, Tammith, and the bard's new griffon Winddancer swiftly defeated the soldiers and priests guarding the gates of Mophur so that their comrades could enter the city and gather supplies before they continued to retreat south. Aoth’s band and many of the Council of Zulkirs' other remaining forces eventually made their way to Bezantur, but throughout southern Thay, towns and fortresses joined Szass Tam. On Marpenoth 3, agents of the church of Bane instigated a riot among the common people of Bezantur and convinced them to try to steal the council's ships in order to flee the city. While the zulkirs' troops fought the unruly citizens throughout the harbor, the followers of Bane snuck over the rooftops of nearby buildings and shot flaming arrows into the vessels in an attempt to prevent the mage-lords from being able to escape from Bezantur. Only four ships were destroyed before the Council’s forces managed to defeat the mob and Bane’s agents. The night after the riot, and with Szass Tam's vast army swiftly approaching Bezantur, the zulkirs decided to flee with their remaining followers into exile in the Wizard's Reach, where they planned to gather strength and await an opportune time to renew the struggle against the lich. The council's large fleet departed from the city on Marpenoth 4, but not before Nevron killed Kumed Hahpret, the zulkir of evocation, because he had not believed that the other wizard was worthy of his title. ;Chapter 11: A few days after the Council of Zulkirs' ships left Bezantur, Szass Tam and his host arrived in the city, where they were welcomed by cheering crowds. Although essentially all of Thay was now under his control and the war was won, the lich was still determined to pursue and annihilate the zulkirs and the remnants of their legions. Szass Tam, his necromancers, and the other Red Wizards serving him performed powerful magical rituals that summoned a sizable force of drowned men and undead aquatic beasts. They also created a fleet of warships consisting of darkness that could carry a large portion of the northern army. Szass Tam and his spellcasters then used their magic to raise a storm at sea to slow the council's flight in order to allow his forces to hunt them down. The turbulent weather delayed the Council's vessels long enough that they could not reach the Wizard's Reach before Szass Tam’s ships and undead minions would intercept them, so the mage-lords decided to confront the enemy fleet. When the Council of Zulkirs' forces, including the surviving members of the Griffon Legion, moved to engage Szass Tam’s followers on Marpenoth 11. Nevron and his conjurers summoned numerous fiendish and elemental entities, particularly denizens of the infernal oceans, to assist them. As the fog-like entity started to eradicate the council's followers, the zulkirs' Red Wizards and priests attempted to stop it, but were unsuccessful. where the water completely immobilized her and began to slowly dissolve her body into nothingness. Bareris and Winddancer followed the pair into the water, and resumed their attack on Tsagoth until the undead demon was forced to magically transport himself to safety. Although Bareris hurried to get Tammith out of the water, he could not do it in time and his beloved perished. Following the dream vestige's defeat, the council's fleet rallied and the battle quickly turned in their favor. Realizing that his forces would inevitably be defeated, Szass Tam ordered his remaining ships to withdraw while his undead aquatic and flying minions covered the retreat. After the battle, Aoth and Brightwing found Bareris floating in the sea, but the bard had been transformed into an undead entity by the necromantic energies that had bound the dream vestige. The following day, Szass Tam prepared for his official coronation as regent of Thay, and decided that he would leave the remaining zulkirs to live in exile. The lich met with Malark, who gifted him a tome of ancient Netheril, written by a brilliant, but anonymous arcanist and recovered by Fastrin the Delver.